Modern-Day Sonnet 115

Sonnet CXV

Those lines that I before have writ do lie,Even those that said I could not love you dearer:Yet then my judgment knew no reason whyMy most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.But reckoning Time, whose million’d accidentsCreep in ‘twixt vows, and change decrees of kings,Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp’st intents,Divert strong minds to the course of altering things;Alas! why, fearing of Time’s tyranny,Might I not then say, ‘Now I love you best,’When I was certain o’er incertainty,Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?Love is a babe, then might I not say so,To give full growth to that which still doth grow?

– William Shakespeare

This sonnet is about someone proclaiming their undying love for another. The sonnet begins by the speaker referring to a past time when he claimed he could not love her anymore than he already did. Now, he has come to realize that this love has grown and he loves her more than ever. In The Sonnet Project NYC a man is shown holding a ring and a bouquet of roses as he says “Might I not then say ‘Now I love you best'”. It appears that the man might be preparing to propose and as he is reciting the sonnet, he is thinking back to past times with his loved one. At the end of the sonnet, the girl sees him and begins running up as he says “To give full growth to that which still doth grow” and gets down on one knee. This modern-day view of love fully growing through marriage helps to better show the meaning of the sonnet. Love is forever growing and continues to through marriage.